cnobleNYC01

Updated tonight - panels are all black and the buttons are not pressable with the mouse. Can still fly (throttle works as does the stick) .. but unable to change anything on the panels. Thanks for the support.

Okay - So i will stipulate that I'm a little off if ya'll stipulate I'm not crazy. ;-) I've been driving the 777 (PanAM &/or TWA livery) for the past 2 months or so... I've had a menu item in P3Dv4 called "RAAS" AND I've been able to load the 777 (any livery) as a default AC with an add-on scenery APT (KSFO to be exact). And yes, I know you're not suppose to be able to ... I didn't know that until it started NOT to load ;-) (as an aside - I first thought it was a scenery issue and when I ran the "AddonOrganizer_P3D_V4" and moved one (any) scenery UP or DOWN each time I went to fly... it then loaded fine after) However; I finally messed myself all up by re-installing everything (everything.. P3Dv4 on up). So I can no longer load the 77W default (again, I know you weren't suppose to in the first place..) and I do not have the RAAS option in P3Dv4 menus anymore... so not sure if it is even running nor able to change the settings as to what it calls out etc. I have checked in the PMDG OP CNT & the FMC; both show RAAS as enabled. I've switched to the "PMDG House Livery".. no joy. The only error I can find in the logs (that I'm aware of) in "777X_debug_log.txt" is "PMDG_Interface.DLL" is unavailable" Bottom line: How do I get the RAAS to work and the menu option to show itself? Signed: What's my name Wade? Frances

** UPDATED ** I got most of it to work - took out the CR returns. I get a couple errors with a FIX n/a ... but seems to work in the FMC otherwise. ************************************ Hi All - Just started to learn how to fly the 77W (PMDG v4) ... so as a total novice (did fly a C172 ... ) I figured I'd give Kai Tak a go... So I get the error "LN:105 ERR AT OR". I'm sure it is a language diff between 747 and the 777 FMC. Was hoping someone knew how to correct. THANKS!!! Chris - The Wannabe Pilot - Noble

Wanted to follow up and give you a brief rundown of what I ended up with. Dell / Alienware: Don't waste your time and/or money. The "award winning support" must refer to the award for incompetent service. Long story ... but the Aurora has driver issues they couldn't fix. And applying common sense to exchanges ... right. So I looked at (and ordered) the "Black Pearl" from CyberpowerPC. RUDDEST people I've ever dealt with and the "manager" actually lied to me about the order. So I built one from scratch - first time in 12+ years. Have to admit it was fun! Corsair 650D Case Corsair 860i PSU Corsair H110 Liquid cooler (it works very well) ASUS P9X79 Pro MB Intel i7-4960x Extreem (currently have it OC'd at 4.5Ghz - peeked in the stress tests at a little over 4.8Ghz) 16gb GSkill RipJawz Z (2300Mhz) NVidia GTX780 Dual FTW w/ACX Coler 3gb GDDR5 Bottom line: Getting 30-60 FPS out of KJFK with heavy loads and addon scenery. I'm reasonably happy now! Thanks again for all the great input and guidance. -Chris

Thanks all for the great posts / debate here!!! Very much opened my eyes to what is needed for FSX. The Alienware Aurora (water cooled) with the i7-4930K (6-core @4.1Ghz),16GB DD3 (1600Mhz), and NVIDIA GTX 760 (1.5GB GDDR5) seems to be the way to go (I'm trying to convince the boss to allow me to get the GTX780 3gb ... but it's an uphill battle there as I've already gone way over the budget I gave her (btw ... she's a lawyer, so imagine how often I win arguments.....) I'll use my old system for AS2012 and some other SimConnect compatible apps and keep traffic lower (the 30% rule sounds good) than I have been. Really guys - this exchange has been AWESOME from a learning perspective for me. Cheers mates!

AS2012 is one of those add-ons I know can be off-loaded to another machine. Check out this vid - he uses AS2012 as an example near the end of the vid. I am planning on getting AS2012 and run it on my old machine. Next year I'll have budget to replace the whole thing; besides, in a year, 8 core will be standard most likely. But your point is well taken.

Believable as in that is too high or too low?? lol I am ordering the replacement computer this weekend and wanted your opinion: (I'm figuring 6 cores will have a major boost even under 4Ghz) Alienware Aurora i7-4820K (6 cores @ 3.9Ghz) 16GB DD3 (1600Mhz) NVIDIA GTX 760 with 1.5GB GDDR5 (I can add a second card later if need be) 475 watt pwr supply 512 SSD +2 TB HDD (7200 rpm)

See below - but I'm calling Dell first thing tomorrow as I'm not past the 30 day return time ... will be upgrading. :-) The Aurora seems closer to the specs you have. So based on this comment - I rebuilt the PC (and I mean down to formatting the partitions, only took an hour - once one goes SSD, one never goes back). Installed Win8 x64, latest drivers, updates, and FSX+Acc. And the NVidia inspector settings as recommended! (these are awesome .. thanks!!) JFK with ALL sliders to the left I get: Low: 110 Ave: 160 High: 180 With default, I get: Low: 30 Ave: 50 High: 110 (Certainly livable - fairly smooth) With Default settings and "My Traffic 5.4c" Low: 16 Ave: 22 High: 40 (Not really livable and jerky on the scenery) So clearly the bottle neck; however, the world seems boring without decent scenery and other traffic to shot down (you know, the planes that might be carrying Snowden...) I see it all the time - people with several computers to drive 3-5+ monitors using FSUIPC / WideFS etc... What I really was hoping to see was the ability to set up a "multi-player" sim where the multi-player was an AI. In other words, set up a private sim network. How do the simmers that run with the ability to fly with others in the same "world" do it?? So what's next in this space? Does X-Plane or Prepar3D have a future with simmers? Seriously - I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to get me up to speed; it's been invaluable and certainly has set me in some good directions. Best, Chris

Jim - Thanks! I just bought a new PC solely for the purpose of FSX. It's an Alienware X51. i7-4770, 8GB, 1.5gb NVidia GTX660, Win8x64. Not the best, but vastly superior to the old quad core I was using before. Stock FSX+Accel - in the KJFK area - I easily get 40+ FPS on average; rarely dropping below 30. Once I add scenery, AI traffic, and some add-ons for scenery realism, it drops down to averaging in the 15s and sinking as low as 5. I don't get CTD's often - usually only when in certain areas ... the KADW add-on scenery seems to be an issue so I disabled it with no further issues. What is considered a "powerful" system ... I'm open to spending money on whatever (hardware, software, etc...) but predicated on this experience; I'm a little hesitant. I did find a "turn-key" system for a mere $55,000 or so; but that is far beyond what is realistic. I guess what I don't understand is - what is the point of multi computer (other than to push more monitors) if you cannot offload other things (I do know there are some ATC and weather apps that can be)? And if I did go multicomputer ... am I going to experience the same FPS across them as they are slaved to the one I'm actually flying on? Thanks for the help ... and please excuse the frustration; it's aimed only at my FSX issues. Incidentally - when you say we are not going to see further enhancements... is that indicative MS will not be coming out with a new/updated version???

Thanks .. this is becoming frustrating. So many opinions on how to configure FSX and nothing authoritative.... seemingly. And now it just crashes every other flight. How could one design a system to maintain ~20 FPS with traffic, scenery, etc????

Hi all - in reading through this forum and others, I've become decidedly more confused about what you can and cannot do with a second (or third) computer... particularly as most multi computer setups discuss multi-monitor as the main reasons. I get that .... my wife does not. I even explain that without any addons, I get 40+ FPS and with them it drops to 20ish; like talking to a brick wall. :-) Soooo .... my question(s) are - how can one utilize a second (less powerful) computer to off-load process to improve FPS? I do NOT have many addons as yet (so many and they all claim to be the best... so I'm in the process of learning) and none of those seem to be "SimConnect" certified (I do understand the purpose of FSUIPC and Simmconnect in general). I use "My Traffic" and "MilViz F-15E" and some scenery addons. Can a second computer be used to run scenery or AI traffic? Instead of having a second commuter that only runs the addon app; could it run a running copy of FSX and "feed" the main computer with that info? In other words: a private multi-player setup where the multiplayer is just scenery and/or AI?? I'm really looking to make the flight as smooth (graphically) as possible. Any pointers, suggestions, advise, laughing, jeers, etc. are all welcome. Thanks All!!